Joburg Super kings captain Faf du Plessis once again played a fiery knock against Sunrisers Eastern Cape in the 27th match of the ongoing SA20 League 2023 at The Wanderers Stadium in Johannesburg on Sunday, February 5. Significantly, Du Plessis's bat is breathing fire in this league, being the top scorer in the league. In this match, he missed out on his much-deserving century by just 8 runs, otherwise, it would have been his second century in this tournament. He departed after scoring 92 runs off 61 balls which included 7 fours and 4 sixes.
Talking about the match, the Super Kings won the toss and elected to bat first. The opening stand of du Plessis and Reeza Hendricks put on 119 runs for the first wicket. Hendricks got out after scoring 40 runs off 36 deliveries in the 15th over of the first innings. Once the stand was broken, Sunrisers came back well with wickets and starved du Plessis of the strike.
It was a brilliant comeback by Sunrisers’ bowlers towards the end as no other batter was able to get a double-digit score. Sisanda Magala bowled brilliantly as he picked up 2 wickets while conceding only 24 runs in his 4 overs quota. Skipper Aiden Markram bowled only 1 over but dismissed two batters. They restricted the Super Kings to the score of 160 runs in 20 overs.
Temba Bavuma's fifty went into vain
Chasing the target, Sunrisers lost their 3 wickets in the mandatory powerplay. Later, Temba Bavuma, who was in good nick, put on a 59-run stand with Markram. The turning point of the game came when Kyle Simmonds got one to stay low and beat Bavuma who had reached fifty and looked to be taking his side home. A team hat-trick followed that wicket and that's when it tilted decisively in favor of the Super Kings as they beat Sunrisers by 24 runs and confirmed their place in the semi-finals. Simmonds took 3 wickets and conceded only 23 runs in his 4 overs.
Banglore’s skipper in the Indian T20 League, du Plessis, has made it clear to other franchises with his latest performance that this time his team might win the trophy for the first time. Apart from him, there is another dangerous batter like Virat Kohli who is in magnificent form during the 20-20 World Cup 2022.
Here's how fans reacted:
RCB fans watching Faf du Plessis scoring runs in yellow jersey 🙂 pic.twitter.com/DRduGSDmQp
— Mohit (@cric8holic) February 5, 2023
Where are the people who said lappebaz fin allen was better than faf
— Tushar (@genwiine) February 5, 2023
cricket south Africa ruined so many careers , Faf is one of them biggest loss to international cricket, period!
— Vkholic.meme (@_vishaaaaal_) February 5, 2023
cricket south Africa ruined so many careers , Faf is one of them biggest loss to international cricket, period!
— Vkholic.meme (@_vishaaaaal_) February 5, 2023
Still got the fitness
— Slayer (@Cricnerd36) February 5, 2023
Fraud Rcb does not deserve him
— Sahil (@kaizar_sahil) February 5, 2023
Du Plessis knows how to don in yellow 💛💛
— The Quagമൈരൻ 😜 (@giggity_verse) February 6, 2023
He is one of my favourite player
— sandeep (@s_andeep1998) February 5, 2023
Better than chokbd
— 🎑 (@LevelHigh21) February 5, 2023
Bhai RCB ke liye bacha ke rakhna runs is baar jitna h warna mahi sir ke jane ke baad jitne me maza nhi aayega
— yuvraj (@yuvraj60683406) February 5, 2023